Environment blog + RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog+big-garden-birdwatch
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Live Q&amp;A: wildlife expert Richard James on the Big Garden Birdwatchhttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/mar/29/wildlife-expert-big-garden-birdwatch
Post your questions to the RSPB's wildlife adviser on what the results of the survey tell us about the state of garden bird life<p>The <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/mar/29/starlings-uk-gardens-decline-rspb?intcmp=122">results of the RSPB's annual Big Garden Birdwatch</a> survey are in. This Thursday we're joined at 1pm for an hour by the wildlife expert Richard James to answer your questions on what the figures can tell us about the state of British garden bird life. </p><p>The survey, which involved 600,000 people this year, revealed an all-time low for the number of starlings seen squabbling in gardens, which has fallen by almost four-fifths since 1979. After a mild winter, more blackbirds, blue tits and long-tailed tits stayed in the countryside, while there were some increases in the number of garden visitors, with goldfinches still on the rise.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/mar/29/wildlife-expert-big-garden-birdwatch">Continue reading...</a>RSPB Big Garden BirdwatchBirdsRSPBEnvironmentWildlifeConservationThu, 29 Mar 2012 09:34:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/mar/29/wildlife-expert-big-garden-birdwatchJodie Randall/RSPB/PAA starling adopts a menacing pose. Photograph: Jodie Randall/RSPB/PAJodie Randall/RSPB/PAA starling adopts a menacing pose. Photograph: Jodie Randall/RSPB/PAShiona Tregaskis2012-03-29T09:34:00ZWeb chat: Mike Dilger on the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatchhttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2012/jan/26/mike-dilger-rspb-garden-birdwatch
Post your questions for naturalist and One Show TV presenter Mike Dilger on the UK's biggest birdwatch this weekend<p><strong>This Friday we're joined at 1pm for an hour by birder and TV presenter <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/dilgertv">Mike Dilger</a> to answer your questions on birdwatching and the <a href="http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/">RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch</a> this weekend</strong>.</p><p>With over half a million people counting birds in their gardens each year, the Birdwatch is the UK's biggest public wildlife survey. Participants are encouraged to <a href="http://www.rspb.org.uk/images/bgbw_sheet_2012_tcm9-259825.pdf">download a recording sheet</a> and then take one hour on 28 or 29 January to note the species they spot. The resulting data produces <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/mar/31/big-garden-birdwatch-breading-success">an annual snapshot of the health of Britain's birds</a>.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2012/jan/26/mike-dilger-rspb-garden-birdwatch">Continue reading...</a>EnvironmentWildlifeBirdsRSPBRSPB Big Garden BirdwatchGardensLife and styleBirdwatchingThu, 26 Jan 2012 11:12:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2012/jan/26/mike-dilger-rspb-garden-birdwatchDavid Tipling/AlamyThe greenfinch is among common garden birds that have taken their leave of suburbia this winter. Photograph: David Tipling/AlamyDavid Tipling/AlamyThe greenfinch is among common garden birds that have taken their leave of suburbia this winter. Photograph: David Tipling/AlamyEnvironment editor2012-01-26T11:12:00ZWake up and smell the flowers | Juliette Jowithttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2010/mar/19/wildlife-natural-world
A few minutes spent contemplating the natural world around us might inspire us to think twice about spraying pesticides on the garden or take more interest in local planning applications<br /><br />• <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/feb/01/flickr-birdwatching-birds" title="See our Big Garden Birdwatch 2010 gallery here">See our Big Garden Birdwatch 2010 gallery here</a><br />• <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2010/jan/29/big-garden-birdwatch-bird-song">Interactive: Know your garden bird song</a><p>As usual when I set the alarm early, I just couldn't be bothered to get out of bed. Eventually a cup of tea arrived and I roused myself to a sitting position, staring blankly at my joint-favourite mug, the one with the LS Lowry painting of a man lying on top of a wall. And then I heard it: the first clear call of the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2008/jan/25/wildlife.conservation?picture=332215726" title="">collared dove</a> this year.</p><p>It helped that for the first time in ages it was warm enough to have the window open, but I suspect even this was not the only reason I have missed that <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2010/jan/29/big-garden-birdwatch-bird-song" title="">contented coo-<em>cooo</em>-coo</a>; the problem is that like most working people today I so seldom make time to be still and listen.</p><p>What is this life if full of care<br />We have no time to stand and stare?<br />No time to stand beneath the boughs<br />And stare as long as sheep, or cows.<br />No time to see, when woods we pass,<br />Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2010/mar/19/wildlife-natural-world">Continue reading...</a>EnvironmentRSPB Big Garden BirdwatchBirdsWildlifeEnergyPollutionFri, 19 Mar 2010 11:02:50 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2010/mar/19/wildlife-natural-worldLinda Nylind/GuardianA man lies on the grass on Hampstead Heath in spring Illustration: Linda NylindLinda Nylind/GuardianA man lies on the grass on Hampstead Heath in spring Illustration: Linda NylindJuliette Jowit2010-03-19T11:02:50ZMove over Big Garden Birdwatch, here comes the US Great Backyard Bird Counthttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2009/feb/13/great-backyard-bird-count-us-birdwatch
The Great Backyard Bird Count is about to kick off over in the US. This year, it's going for the 10 million mark<p>Back in England last Christmas with my parents, I remembered the houses and gardens I grew up in: small, enclosed and quiet, always with the familiar sound of robins, tits, blackbirds, wrens and dunnocks.</p><p>Today, my world is very different. I live in Cape May, a small town famous for birding and just three hour's drive south of New York. I have a house and garden with birds, but there the similarity between an English garden and an American &quot;backyard&quot; ends.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2009/feb/13/great-backyard-bird-count-us-birdwatch">Continue reading...</a>EnvironmentBirdwatchingConservationRSPB Big Garden BirdwatchFri, 13 Feb 2009 14:50:33 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2009/feb/13/great-backyard-bird-count-us-birdwatch/Richard CrossleyA common grackle: "they arrive like swarms of locusts, clear out the feeders and then are gone." Photograph: Richard Crossley/Richard CrossleyA tufted titmouse. Photograph: Richard Crossley/Richard CrossleyA blue jay in the US winter. Photograph: Richard Crossley/Richard CrossleyA Blue Jay in the US winter. Photograph: Richard CrossleyRichard Crossley2009-02-13T14:50:33ZHalf a million birdwatchers, countless birds, and one raccoon: the highlights of the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatchhttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2009/jan/26/big-garden-birdwatch-birdwatching1
Thirty years and 50m birds later, the RSPB's annual birdwatching event has grown from a small event with a hundred birders to a nationwide web phenomenon<p>The <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/big-garden-birdwatch">RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch</a> is over – so if you forgot to spend <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/jan/23/big-garden-birdwatch-birdwatching1">an hour this weekend</a> checking out the birds in your garden I'm afraid you're too late! If you did, then make sure you submit your results – either on paper, or by using the RSPB's preferred (and environmentally-friendly) method of logging onto their <a href="http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/">website</a></p><p>It's still too soon to give the results of this snapshot survey of the ups and downs of Britain's garden birds, but the RSPB is expecting that sometime early on Saturday morning the 50 millionth bird ever recorded was logged – not bad for a survey that started with just a few hundred people 30 years ago this year. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2009/jan/26/big-garden-birdwatch-birdwatching1">Continue reading...</a>RSPB Big Garden BirdwatchBirdwatchingEnvironmentBirdsRSPBTue, 27 Jan 2009 11:46:43 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2009/jan/26/big-garden-birdwatch-birdwatching1RSPBA blackbird. Photograph: RSPBAPStephen Moss2009-01-27T11:46:43ZYour top 10 photos from the Big Garden Birdwatchhttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2009/jan/26/big-garden-birdwatch-birdwatching
After being overwhelmed by the number of garden bird photos you shared with us, we've whittled them down to the best. <strong>Voting has now closed: the winning photo is Johnmullin's superb shot of greenfinches in flight</strong><p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/big-garden-birdwatch">We asked</a> for your garden bird snaps and you delivered. Over the last week, you've been posting hundreds of brilliant photos on our <a href="http://flickr.com/groups/biggardenbirdwatch/">Big Garden Birdwatch Flickr group</a>. Now we've picked our top 10 below: all that remains is for you to pick your favourite from the list. Simply post the name of the photo in the comments (only vote for one, please!) and we'll count your votes later this week and announce the winner. </p><p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kernowpics/3196075461/" title="Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) by Kernow Pics, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3409/3196075461_65efda0623_b.jpg" width="460" height="252" alt="Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)" /></a><br />Starling by Kernow Pics<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/purpleorchid2/3160845680/" title="great spotted woodpecker by purpleorchid2, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3109/3160845680_26355b0d16_b.jpg" width="460" height="328" alt="great spotted woodpecker" /></a><br />Great spotted woodpecker by purpleorchid2</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2009/jan/26/big-garden-birdwatch-birdwatching">Continue reading...</a>RSPB Big Garden BirdwatchEnvironmentBirdwatchingPhotographyCultureMon, 26 Jan 2009 16:05:58 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2009/jan/26/big-garden-birdwatch-birdwatchingAdam Vaughan2009-01-26T16:05:58ZBig Garden Birdwatch – live online at 1pm on Sunday 25 Januaryhttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2009/jan/23/big-garden-birdwatch-birdwatching1
All over Britain, hundreds of thousands of birdwatchers will take part in the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch. Join us for <br />a live blog on Sunday 25 January from 1pm to 2pm<p>Postpone the Sunday roast. The only place to be between 1pm and 2pm this Sunday is at your window, watching birds in your garden and reporting your spots on this Big Garden Birdwatch live blog. Joining you will be our brilliant birding bloggers, featuring Martin Noble and Scott Wilkinson of Brit rockers <a href="http://www.britishseapower.co.uk/" title="">British Sea Power</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Wilson_(actor)" title="">Sean &quot;Martin Platt&quot; Wilson</a> of Coronation Street fame and <a href="http://mikedilger.co.uk/" title="">Mike Dilger</a> from <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/theoneshow/" title="">The One Show</a>. We also have Richard Bashford and Darren Oakley Martin from the RSPB, <a href="http://www.birding.uk.com/" title="">Neil Rigby of Birding UK</a> and our resident birdwatching expert <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/stephenmoss1" title="">Stephen Moss</a>.</p><p>As well as telling you whether they're seeing sparrows, robins or greenfinches, our birders will also be on hand to help you in the comments with any spotting questions. Not sure if you've seen a great tit or a coal tit? Wondering why your garden's not attracting many feathered friends? This is the place to ask.</p><p><a href="http://poopsiestruecolours.blogspot.com/2009/01/big-garden-birdwatch-2009.html">'Poopsie'</a> wrote that they spotted:<br />&quot;Blackcap, 1 rusty capped female; Robins, 2 &amp; paired; Blackbirds, 5 - lots of courting maneuvers; Bullfinches, male &amp; female, 5; Dunnock, aka Hedge Sparrow 1!&quot;</p><p>Conservative <a href="http://davidnuttall.info/2009/01/24/big-garden-birdwatch/ ">David Nuttall</a> in Tottington spotted:<br />&quot;House sparrow 8, Blue Tit 5, Long-tailed tit 2, Blackbird 1, Coal tit 1, Dunnock 1, Great Tit 1, Robin 1&quot; </p><p>seems to be a good range of species around - the cat is in and the rain has stopped.</p><p>It's drizzling in Brighton, and there's not alot of action in my tiny city garden at the moment. I regularly put bread, meal worms and table mix out, so i'm hoping there will be a few hungry regulars braving the rain.</p><p>Set every where up with seed and just sitting back with a roaring open fire waiting for the boids to come a visitin....we have no cats in this area so they'll be nice n safe to come n chomp away...Wind is at 26 kph according to website n the wind chill is down to 3' so not the ideal weather to bird watch but hey here goes...</p><p>The seconds count down to the start of the hour, and I'm at the kitchen window eagerly looking out at the feeders… first bird is greenfinch – 3 of them on the feeder, swiftly followed by 1 goldfinch…</p><p>It's been a very wet night, but the rain stopped at dawn and since then the sun has come out and the birds with it…a few minutes ago there were a couple of dozen starlings feeding on the seed I'd carefully placed on the ground… but now, of course, they've gone!</p><p>Two crows straight in to feed on the ground on scraps. Collared dove feeding on spilt seed from the feeders.</p><p>My garden is quiet in view of last night's storm!</p><p>Great Tit on feeder.<br />Blue Tit on scraps cage feeder.<br />A pair of Blackbirds foraging on the ground. The male close in and the female has replaced the pair of crows further off.</p><p>Three-year-old George is keen to join in, so we stick his boots and coat on and head out into the yard…</p><p>1 great tit, 2 blue tits and 2 hosue sparrows; 7 starlings… but George has insisted on going into the front garden so all the birds have flown away from the feeders… just before they did so I counted 3 house sparrows…</p><p>&quot;This ga-ar-den is lookin like a ghost garden&quot;....as I think it was UB40 would say...Nothin to report apart from the toastiness of my lounge and the crackle of the fire....About 20 starlings in the field at the side of the house but I don't think they count as I wouldn't fancy mowing that thing n callin it my garden...no thankyou....so nothin to report...</p><p>Hello bloggers</p><p>Slightly late to sit down in front of the feeders as I've been out birding this morning at Rye Harbour in East Sussex and we were held up returning to my hosts house by the HIDEOUS weather... More lowlights than highlights but we did find a drake smew and a hardy bittern battling against the elements from one reed-bed to the next..</p><p>It's raining hard here but now seems to be easing off a bit.<br />Robin has entered the garden sheltering in the hedge and is singing sweetly.<br />The Blackbirds are still foraging around.</p><p>Earlier today i had 3 woodpigeons, 2 male blackbirds and our friendly neighbourhood Goldcrest.<br />No visitors at the moment though.</p><p>Starting my birdwatch in SW London at 13.15 GMT. This is 30th year for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch - hooray for citizen science!</p><p>A pair of Blue Tits are on the feeders.<br />A Green Woodpecker landed had a look around and has flown off back to the neighbours oak tree.</p><p>5 mins in, and the usual suspects are dashing from the lilac tree and the weeping willow to snatch a seed before dashing back to cover...</p><p>Great tit, blue tit, godlfinch &amp; a cock house sparrow! The exclamation mark was for the house sparrow.... how things have changed. Rare as hen's teeth in my own back-garden in Bristol, but doing ok in East Sussex it seems...</p><p>Hmm, plenty of stuff flying over - nothing too impressed by my feeders, bird table and chopped up apples scattered on the lawn.</p><p>Nice long-tailed tit littlelaura (the Twitter pic!) - they never used to come onto feeders but seem to have learned to do it now!</p><p>In the meantime back in Somerset…<br />We're heading out into the back garden – I should say at this point that this place is a bit different from the suburban gardens where I spent the first 45 years of my life… here on the Somerset Levels we have over an acre, so the back garden is more like a weedy field!</p><p>It's finch-tastic.. The holy trinity of goldfinch, chaffinch and greenfinch.. we are still hopeful of siskin as they were seen yesterday...<br />6 goldfinch flashing in and out and a blackbird has joined the remaining cock-pheasant to feed on the left-overs...<br />coal tits are regular too...</p><p>Ah..we have some action in the Wilson garden with the brief appearance of the Dunnock, peckin away at the seed with his feathers ruffling in the south easterly breeze...we've had a magpie flyover and the starlings are circlin the house but they don't cont of course...</p><p>A robin has joined the throng and is even perching on the sunflower hearts feeder... Usually he prefers to sit on the squirrel baffle which is situated below the feeders...</p><p>SISKIN!! Beat that bloggers... FOUR finches! PS I wish this was my garden!</p><p>The Robin has moved away from the hedge cover and has landed on the hanging bird table and is feeding in a relaxed manner due to the lack of competition.</p><p>I'm moving up to the balcony to have a look further into the garden.</p><p>hi sorry im a little late due to computer trouble<br />despite worrying the fairly strong winds and rain would make it a washout<br />there is in fact a fair amount of bird action going on here.</p><p>luckily regular morning feeding at 11am has helped establish a club of<br />regulars. even though most of the bird food was washed and blown off the<br />table they are scrabbling around in my fairly large rural garden looking<br />for food.</p><p>Sean mate – it was the Specials (I'm old enough to remember!)<br />And Mike – are pheasants a garden bird???!!!</p><p>Meanwhile George has decided to take control of the binoculars, so I'm relying on my naked eye… and although I have a good view that makes it more frustrating because I keep seeing birds flying over – which I can't count under the rules either!</p><p>A lovely male Blackbird popped in for a feed.<br />He's sat in the tree, staring me out.<br />Hopefully he'll encourage a few others.</p><p>Despite the awful weather there are at least 4 or 5 birds on the feeders at any one time...<br />We have a new cracker.... MARSH TIT... Which my host tells me is a regular...<br />We have seen four tits and four finches but just the one thrush...<br />Marsh tit back for more watched by a female siskin!... And I have a cup of tea on the go... can it get any better?!</p><p>A pair of collared doves in flight over head.<br />A Wood Pigeon flies over the garden and lands near our orchard.<br />The Crows are back. This time one has returned to the ground scraps while the other flies off.<br />A pair of sparrows break cover from the hedge and fly off together.</p><p>Thanks to next doors Niger seed feeders, I've just seen two Goldfinches perched on the hedge in my garden, dunnock and robin singing - could almost be spring - apart from the weather!</p><p>chosen a very quiet hour for big garden birdwatch :-(</p><p>It's much milder than it was over Christmas and New Year, when the ground was rock hard and all the hedgerows around the garden covered with a thick frost. We had dozens – perhaps hundreds – of fieldfares and redwings in the field behind the house, as well as a small flock of lapwings, most of which have now disappeared.</p><p>A second redwing in the ash tree, joined by the first fieldfare of the count – these colourful thrushes come here all the way from Scandinavia, and line the hedgerows, stripping them of berries.<br /> <br />Back to the kitchen window just to see if anything has changed – and if anything things are less exciting – just one goldfinch! I was hoping the seeds on the ground might attract a dunnock, but they haven't. That's the frustrating thing about the Garden Birdwatch – 'you should have been here yesterday! as birders often say… but remember that for the RSPB negative results are just as important as positive ones, as it shows which birds are declining or disappearing from where they used to be…</p><p>21 Starlings on the electric lines above the house if that counts...but that's all I have to offer...</p><p>Like any bird-race... it's tremendously exciting to start with and then we start to see less new species.... It does bring out the competitive streak in me though, particularly when Mr Moss is ringing us up and distracting me and my host from the job in the hand...<br />Only new bird is a nuthatch.... which always causes the tits to scatter as it barrels in casting birds aside...<br />The pressure is on as I have only 10 mins more birding left before my host takes me out to a pub lunch</p><p>A few Herring gulls have flown over, they don't seem to mind the rain.<br />Probably looking for chips.<br />I once saw a pigeon in the rain with his wing over his head, using it as an umbrella.</p><p>its gone pretty quiet as the rain has picked up. the robin popped out for a few seconds. nice little robin is always hanging around. he s one of the least scared birds and doesnt get bothered by people much making him seem very friendly.<br />some of the birds are so frequent and identifiable they have names. george is a male pheasant and a very strong character. he has three girl pheasants on the go and sometimes has to chase of another cheeky male pheasant who is either interested in the food or the girls i'm not sure.<br />1 robin. 1 blue tit.</p><p>A blackbird in the hedgerow, and robin and starling singing – first sign of spring? 2 fieldfares and 4 redwings, and now up to 6 greenfinches…</p><p>Black-headed gull overhead – again not able to count it. I see my friend and colleague Mike Dilger has forsaken his tiny garden in the centre of Bristol and instead is in top birder Nigel Redman's garden in deepest Sussex - no wonder he's getting marsh tits, siskins and treecreepers!</p><p>I was just starting to think it had gone quiet when...<br />The ground feeding Crow flies of showing patchy white areas on its wings. Another Crow joins it from the neighbour's oak tree and they head for open countryside. Will they return?<br />The pair of Sparrows are back and dive back into the conifer hedging. I raise the binoculars to the hedge and spot the Robin perching their. It begins to sing.<br />Just spotted a Thrush perched up high in a tree! It just swooped down low over the garden.</p><p>Two minutes left for me otherwise I'll not be welcome back again but we have a dunnock to add to the list and loads of house sparrows coming in now...<br />The rain is horizontal and its blowing a hoolie so we haven't done bad considering... No wood pigeons or collared doves, but what about the treecreeper!!<br />Bye bye bloggers lunch calls...</p><p>My son Frankie has just appeared and ready to help. First thing he did was correct my Collared Dove count - was 6 now 8 - and he's right too. Just got really busy - my dad just popped over, Frankie now on his DS and the garden is full of birds at last - 5 House Sparrows, my 'nearly Blackbird' with white bits jut arrived with 3 chums.</p><p> So far I've spotted a dunnock and a couple of tits.</p><p>A Blue Tit has discovered the fat balls and is feeding happily in the rain.</p><p>No more birds to report so beginning to ponder the popularity of what we're doing today…</p><p>Two out of every three of us feed our garden birds – more people than regularly use the Internet! So why do we do it? For me it's all about territory – just as these birds are defending the place where they live, so I am enjoying building up a picture of the birds that live here on my patch. I note down when I see them, how many I see, and of course dates of arrival of summer visitors such as the swallows that nest in the barn next door.</p><p>Our friend the Dunnock can't believe his luck...he's found all the seed and he's happilly munchin away so if nothin else I've made a Dunnock happy...had a Little Owl in the garden on Friday afternoon so who knows...</p><p>Would that count as a &quot;murmuration&quot; of starlings Sean?<br />(One of the best collective nouns surely?)<br />2 Herring Gulls sat on the roof opposite, looking for bin bags to rip open.<br />The swines.</p><p>Just to clarify, it was a Song Thrush as we do get Mistle Thrushes here too.<br />A pair of Wood Pigeons have just flown up into the high branches of a tree.</p><p>A seagull is flying about quite high up. a magpie landed briefly. i know its one for sorrow but he normally has at least one friend with him and comes and goes all day. i havent noticed a correlation between him and my fortune yet.<br />omar the crow just turned up. he s named after the character in the wire as he s a loner and very tough. the only local who can see george off!<br />oops i just saw squirrel wilkinson who strictly speaking doesnt belong in this blog but. hes recognisable by his little stumpy tale and just stole the rest of the seeds which he stuffed in his fat cheeks. sometimes georges girs dig up his buried food by scratching at the ground.</p><p>Now fifteen Collard Doves on my two feeders - only really space for 6 so they land on each others heads...And bingo! A male Reed Bunting comes to my table - only the second time I've seen on in this garden in 8 years. Pretty chuffed with that. I just show what can turn up during a concerted watch.</p><p>My wife Suzanne comes out and spots a magpie, which unlike one I saw earlier lands briefly in the garden so does count… wood pigeon, collared dove, carrion crow, lesser black-backed and herring gulls have also flown over and there's a dunnock singing his rather unassuming song. In the front garden there's a robin on the feeder – quite unusual - they usually get kicked off by the tits and finches…</p><p>The tits seem to be in pairs – great and blue tits now paired up ready to start breeding…</p><p>basically, it is fairly pissing down now. not a feather in sight!<br />oh hold on, i think thats george hiding wet in the bushes. hes doing that thing where his head jerks up and down like the guitarist from dr feelgood who almost decapitated me once.<br />i cant imagine much else happening now. theres a lone sparrow on the table. he looks miserable. cant really blame him.<br />1 partridge (george)<br />1 sparrow</p><p>The pair of Crows are roosting in the tree in close proximity to one of the Wood Pigeons I saw earlier.<br />A Dunnock! It's perching on a post looking a bit miserable in the rain!<br />One of the Crows flies off and the other drops down to perch on the top of some garden furniture.</p><p>Maybe the Little Owl has been makin his presence felt as we are getting nothing at all in our garden but the Dunnock...I have had great times tho watchin the owl through the summer and autumn as he perches on the side of the house and uses it as his watchpoint thru the night...so although we have nothin to report again we have fond memories...</p><p>It's officially a pair of Dunnocks now. Both ground feeding on spilt seed.<br />The male Blackbird is foraging around on our waterlogged grass. It's so wet maybe the worms are rising?</p><p>Hi Stephen - 74 in 3 years from the garden - not bad! In 8 years I'm nearing the big 100 with just 3 to go - still need a few raptors. I back onto cow fields and the River Ouse so do well for flyovers - Goosanders, Cormorants and a range of ducks - managed Little Egret too last year. I reckon a good bit of skywatching should get me Peregrine, Red Kite and an Osprey in May for the 100!<br /> <br />Back to earth - great to see Long-tailed Tit making an appearance at last and my first Starling in the garden in the hour - a flock of 200 or so in the field behind.</p><p>One minute to go and very quiet… but just as I'm thinking there's nothing left to add, the characteristic deep croaking of a raven which has landed in the ash tree at the bottom of the garden. These used to be very rare in these parts, but in the last year or so I've noticed the numbers rising and it is now a regular garden visitor… No longer persecuted as it used to be, for me the raven is also very welcome – a truly wonderful bird</p><p>And as the bell of the church tower signals my hour is up, I wander back to the house, my Garden Birdwatch over for another year… a total of 15 species plus another half a dozen overhead… not bad for an hour!</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2009/jan/23/big-garden-birdwatch-birdwatching1">Continue reading...</a>RSPB Big Garden BirdwatchBirdwatchingConservationWildlifeEnvironmentRSPBFri, 23 Jan 2009 15:24:30 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2009/jan/23/big-garden-birdwatch-birdwatching1Francesc Muntada/CorbisA greenfinch. Photograph: Francesc Muntada/CorbisFrancesc Muntada/CorbisAdam Vaughan2009-01-23T15:24:30ZBig Garden Birdwatch: You don't have to be an expert to take part, writes Stephen Mosshttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2009/jan/22/big-garden-birdwatch-birdwatching
Stephen Moss on how you can take part in the Big Garden Birdwatch – the biggest mass participation environmental survey in the world, which kicks off this weekend<p>Not so long ago, attracting birds to your garden was quite simple. When I was growing up in the 1960s we just used to throw a few pieces of stale bread onto the lawn. By the 1970s, we'd made progress: visiting the local pet shop to buy those red mesh bags stuffed with peanuts, or a box of Swoop.</p><p>How things have changed. Nowadays, feeding garden birds is a multi-million pound industry, with <a href="http://www.birdfood.co.uk/">hundreds of different feeders and dozens of different foods</a>. The birds have responded to our generosity: more than 100 different species have been recorded coming to bird tables and feeders. And feeding garden birds has become a national pastime – enjoyed, according to the RSPB, by two out of three households.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2009/jan/22/big-garden-birdwatch-birdwatching">Continue reading...</a>RSPB Big Garden BirdwatchBirdwatchingWildlifeEnvironmentConservationAnimal behaviourBiologyThu, 22 Jan 2009 11:16:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2009/jan/22/big-garden-birdwatch-birdwatchingMark Hamblin/GettySpotted: a greenfinch. Photograph: Mark Hamblin/Getty ImagesFrancesc Muntada/CorbisStephen Moss2009-01-22T11:16:00ZGet spotting: join the Big Garden Birdwatchhttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2009/jan/21/big-garden-birdwatch-wildlife
Birdwatching has never been easier – and you don't even need to go outside. The Guardian and the RSPB are joining forces to bring you the Big Garden Birdwatch – live online<p>Think you don't know your blackbird from your song thrush? I bet you'd be surprised. And I reckon you could probably spot a robin, a blue tit and dove. The <a href="http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/index.asp" title="">RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch</a> is the perfect example of how you can enjoy wildlife and make a difference to its survival without knowing exactly what you are looking at. And it's a great opportunity to brush up on those bird identification skills you didn't even know you had.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2009/jan/21/big-garden-birdwatch-wildlife">Continue reading...</a>RSPB Big Garden BirdwatchWildlifeBirdwatchingBirdsWed, 21 Jan 2009 14:13:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2009/jan/21/big-garden-birdwatch-wildlifeTom Vezo/Public domainMark Avery2009-01-21T14:13:00ZJoin our tweet-by-tweet coverage of the Big Garden Birdwatchhttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2009/jan/21/big-garden-birdwatch-birdwatching
Follow our elite team of birdwatchers this Sunday as they live-blog their garden birds for the RSPB's annual birding bash<p>This weekend, thousands of amateur and serious birdwatchers will spend an hour spotting birds in their backyard as part of the RSPB's <a href="http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/" title="">Big Garden Birdwatch</a>.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2009/jan/21/big-garden-birdwatch-birdwatching">Continue reading...</a>RSPB Big Garden BirdwatchBirdwatchingWildlifeEnvironmentZoologyAnimal behaviourBiologyBirdsRSPBWed, 21 Jan 2009 14:11:32 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2009/jan/21/big-garden-birdwatch-birdwatchingGraham Turner/The GuardianA robin in the snow in Hoxne, Suffolk.
Photograph: Graham Turner/The GuardianAdam Vaughan2009-01-21T14:11:32Z